Good programmers often wonder how to become even better programmers. They constantly seek for new tools and techniques that help them getting their job done better and faster.

If you want to know what helps the most, here is some advice:

“You must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”

These words are from the best-selling author Stephen King; he should really know — he makes 45 million bucks per year from his books.

I believe that programming and writing novels have a lot in common and that King’s words of wisdom are applicable to software development as well.

Let’s first focus on reading. It’s a well known fact that programmers read too little. In their book “Peopleware”, Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister assert that the average developer doesn’t own a single book on the subject of his or her work. If this is true, it might be an explanation as to why our industry is performing so badly: if developers don’t know about the fundamentals of software engineering (not just coding issues — also topics like software quality, configuration management and peopleware in general) how can they explain them to non-technical folks like sales and upper management once they’ve become technical leaders?

What about code reading? Fortunately, we live in very privileged times. Twenty years ago, almost all code was closed source; nowadays, there are billions of lines of open source code out there from which we can learn. Alas, there is the fundamental law of programming: “It’s harder to read code than it is to write it.”

If browsing through huge open source code bases gives you headaches, check out “Code Reading” or “Code Quality” by Diomidis Spinellis. These two fine books quote (and criticize) countless examples from open source projects — in my view, a lightweight and often entertaining way to improve your programming Kung Fu.

But what about code writing? Isn’t a professional software developer already writing enough code? Not so! Typically, software developers only spend a fraction of their time writing code. In fact, most of their time is devoted to meetings, email, reading specs, writing documentation and so on. With this little time given for writing code, it is vitally important that developers keep their programming skills active.

A good way to practice is by contributing to an open source project. Another possibility is doing Code Katas — little practice sessions, based on a concept borrowed from karate and other martial arts, where the practitioner fights against an imaginary opponent. But by far the best way is to work for your employer in your leisure time — for free!

Have you recovered?

I presume that to most people, this idea sounds shocking, almost insane — but I really mean it. Often, good ideas arise during the day that your boss doesn’t understand and hence doesn’t approve. If you think your idea is challenging and useful for the company — do it at home! Not only does this improve your coding skills, it helps your company; as a bonus, your reputation within the company increases. So we have at least a win-win, if not a double-win-win situation. But only choose interesting topics, things that improve your skills; leave the drudgework for the office.

Constant reading and practicing is the key to success. It doesn’t take much time, but it needs to be done habitually. Don’t expect that your company or your boss or anyone but you is responsible for improving your skills. Even if those days existed in the past, they certainly don’t exist anymore.